Educational appliance.



N0. 688,388. Patentd Dec. I0, |90l.

W. H. CARTWHIGHT.

EDUCATIONAL APPLIANCE.

(Application filed Mar. 2, 1901.;

" (No Model.)

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"m l I u "n UNITED 'STATES' PATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM II. .cARrwRIeHnoF BLAKELEY, MINNESOTA.

EDUCATloNAL APPLIAN'C.

srncIIrIc'rIoN forming i'rt of Letters Patent No. 688,388,01ateaDecember'io, 190i.

Application filed March 2, 1901.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. CART- WRIGHT, a citizen of theUnitedStates, residing at Blakeley, in the county of VScott and State ofMinnesota, have invented a new and useful Educational Appliance, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an educational device; and the object of thesame is to provide simple and eective means for teaching a child orscholar the fundamental principles of orthography and reading and alsothe names of different objects, andinvolving such mode of operation asto cause a use of thought and theY faculties generally in conjunctionwith the several mechanical parts of the device in arriving attheXdesired result without encouraging a full mechanical operation ordependence on the part of the childor scholar. v

The invention consists in the construction and arrangement of theseveral parts which will be more fully hereinafter described andclaimed. Y

In the drawings, Figure 1 isl a front elevation of the improved device.Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse verticalsection through the center of the device. Fig. 4 is a detail perspectiveview of a movable block forming part of the complement of theimproved'de'vice. Fig. 5 is a detail elevation of theanswer-strip'removably carried by a portion of the device and'reversible to expose diiferent matter on opposite sides thereof. y

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate correspondingparts in the several views.

The numeral 1 designates the body of the bard,which has asubstantiallysmooth face 2 v at the front and rear side and upper andlower strips 3 and 4 to provide a rear recess 5. The board is adapted tobe fastened to a suitable support for convenience in operation by thechild or scholar and adjacent to the left-hand side thereofis a groove6. Centrally lined in the said groove and spaced apart atregularintervals are-'a plurality of vertical openings 7, which :arevertically arranged and extend completely through the board in atransverse direction, as shown by Fig. 2, and along the' Serial No.49,621. (No model.)

right edge of the said groove is a removable and reversible object-strip8, which has a plu- Y rality of diiferent objects on opposite sides andcooperates with a reversible answer-strip 9 near the right side' of theface 2, both strips 8 and 9 being replaceable by other similar stripsand the opposite ends of the same removably heldin the frontoverprojecting portions of upper and lower clips 10, secured to the endsof the board. The objects and answers on the respective strips 8 and 9are arek ranged in transverse alinement and irregularly for a purposewhich will be hereinafter set forth.

In the center of the board or at a point between the strips 8 and 9 aseries of verticallyalined push-pins l11 are mounted in the board andare supplied with outer heads 12 and rear circular lflanges 13, locatedin the recess at the back of the board, there being as many of the saidpins as there are characters or 0bjects and answers on the severalstrips set forth. rPhe flanges are in continual operative engagementwith spring-arms 14, located in the recess at the back of the board, andhave theone extremity of each secured to the back of the board and theopposite extremity bent at an angle to form a stop l5, the said stopsbeing freely movable through the openings 8 and normally projecting inadvance of theplane of the front face of the groove. When the pins 11are pushed rearwardly, the arms are moved back and the stop ends 15thereof are withdrawn rearward to clear the front face of the groove.Some of the arms also have depending angular extensions 16, from whichthe stops l5 terminally proone, respectively, carry the third, seventh,

and eleventh stops, the twelfth arm also having an extension whichcarriesv the' thirteenth stop, and the thirteenth arm at the bottom hasthe eleventh stop. This irregularity in` the arrangement of the armscauses the child or scholar to exercise thought in arriving at theresult sought instead of mechanically depending on a regular sequentialdisposition of the arms and stops to obtain the answer in each instance,and also encourages a thoughtful study, which will lead to anacquaintance with the word or name sought, as well as its orthographicalconstruction. The strips 8 and 9 will respectively have the objects andanswers arranged to correspond with the irregular arrangement of thestops, as set forth.

With the improved board a series of two blocks 17 are adapted to beused, though for ordinary uses only one block will be employed. It isobvious, however, that the number of blocks could be increased, and theaugmentation of the number will require but a simple duplication, asthey will all be of the same construction. Each block is formed withangularly or V shaped grooved sides 18 to engage the side walls of thegroove 6, each of the blocks being also formed with upper and lowercenter grooves or transversely-extending cavities 19 to form seats forthe stops 15. Each block is preferably thicker than the depth of thegroove 6 and may be reversed, and either one or both faces have anindicating device, such as an arrow 20, which is arranged to point tothe right and is adapted to transversely aline with objects on the strip8 and answers on the strip 9. It is not actually necessary that theblock be reversible; but it may be convenient at times to have it so,and also to apply diierent colors to the opposite faces, and when asecond block is used it may also have a still dierent colored face orfaces. As many of the strips 8 and 9 may be furnished with each board asmay be deemed expedient and corresponding to the age of the child orchildren using the same, and it will be understood that young childrenwill have simple objects and words to master and the said objects andwords be rendered more complex for older children. The device can bemade almost noiseless by covering the pins with felt or the like andalso deadening other partsi The parent or teacher lnust first arrangethe strips for the child or scholar and also enter the block for thefirst few times. lThe parent or teacher then instructs the child to look,at the first picture on the strip 8 and indicated by the block and tellwhat it is. The child will naturally say cat, and he is then instructedto find such word on the strip 9 and to press the button or pin near toor corresponding wit-h the same, and as soon as the child does this theblock falls one space and the indicator on the block points to anotherobject. The child will soon learn that the block will always refuse tofall unless he presses the button opposite the right word and that thesaid block always responds to his touch when by thoughtful intelligencehe presses the button opposite the word which ceases corresponds to theobject indicated by the block. If the child does not press the right pinor button every time, which will be made known to himv by a failure ofthe block to fall, he will try another button or pin, andif the secondfails he will continue to Search for the correct word and to press thebuttons or pins until the block does fall, and when the block falls hewill naturally note and carefully study the word opposite the successfulpin or button which brought the block down. If the parent or teacheruses the device to ascertain whether the child has learned his lesson,two blocks may be entered at once instead of one, each block bearing anindicating-arrow. In this use the child is instructed to take the twoblocks completely through the groove 6 by pressing one button at a timeand not allow them to be at any time more than one space apart. Thisalternating from the object indicated by one block to the objectindicated by the other doubles the confusion, and no child or otherperson can go through this drill without making mistakes or pressingwrong pins or buttons until he knows the words, and therefore theconstruction cannot take a mechanical turni If the child or scholarknows the words perfectly, this double drill can be carried on withoutmaking a mistake or pressing a wrong button. By the con= struction andarrangement of parts set forth and the operations specified achild orscholar may be readily taught to read and also in-I structed in theprimary principles of orthog; raphy.

There are many obvious changes that could be made in the present devicewithout departing in the least from the principle involved, and amongothers may be mentioned the ideal of combining the object and answerstrip in one device and disposing both adjacent to the block-groove withthe pins or push devices located to the right of both strips-1in other'words, both strips can be located between the pins and the block insteadof being separated by said pins, as shown. Of course a number of thesecombined strips could also be supplied with each appliance. Anotherobvious change would be to have the strips andpins disposed horizontallyor to read longitudinally of the board and the block likewise shiftable.The indicator on the block might be raised and its position varied tochange the direction of indication. These and other changes can be madein the form, size, proportions, and minor details of the several parts.

Having thus described the inventiomwhat is claimed as new is- In aneducational device, the combination of a board with a groove at one sideportion thereof, an indicating device gravitatingly movable by astep-by-step operation in said groove, a strip removably mountedadjacent to said groove and having pictures of dier ent obiects thereonin vertical alinement, an In testimon`y5 tliat 'I claim the foregoing asanswer-strip at a distance from said olojeet-l my own I haveheretoaft'lxed my signature in Io strip tprovided with names corresponding tothe presence of two Witnesses.`

the o jects on the latter and also removably c applied, and clips at theupper and lower ends p WILLIAM H' CARTWRIGHT of the board which are longenough lto receive Witnesses:

thereunder the upper and lower 'ends of the A. J. IRWIN, a.. Y

said strips@ v HARRY A. IRWIN;

